Mobile

Yes, that's me holding a phone upside down while pretending to make a phone call. It may look silly, but that's exactly what the folks over at Alcatel OneTouch want to see going viral on the streets soon. What we have here is the new "orientation-free" Idol 3 smartphone series, which lets users quickly pick up phone calls without having to check whether they are holding the device -- either the 4.7-inch version or the larger 5.5-inch model -- the right way up. The trick? It's all down to the symmetrical design consisting of a speaker and a mic at each end of the phone; and yes, you do get to use the two front-facing speakers in stereo mode for entertainment purposes.

We're not entirely sure why HTC decided it needed to make a fitness tracker, but it did, and it has. The end result is the HTC Grip, a device that looks more than a little like one of Nike's FuelBands, but does so, so much more. HTC gave us a peek at an early, incomplete version of the product in Barcelona, but here's the rub: I couldn't connect it to my phone in hopes of testing some of its more smartwatch-y features like notifications and canned responses. Still, venture on for a first peek at what HTC and its pals at Under Armour have cobbled together.

That's the impression you'd probably get looking at the HTC One M9 for the first time. I felt that way too, at first. Thing is, HTC knows it's got a good thing going with its high-end One design and just didn't feel like a full-on revolution was necessary in 2015... maybe to the consternation of some of its activist fans. So what's new, if not the M9's aesthetic? Quite a bit, really, and not all of it great.

By now, you will have heard at least something about Windows 10, the next iteration of Microsoft's OS that aims to create a unified experience across all the devices it'll eventually inhabit: everything from PCs and laptops to tablets and phones. Microsoft already released several previewbuilds for computers, and now the first Windows 10 Technical Preview is available for phones. You're highly unlikely to want to install this buggy early build on your daily driver, but don't sweat it. I've got just the phone for the job: a Lumia 630, which happens to be one of the few compatible devices at the moment. So let's take a look at what's new, and what's still to come.

In the hope of drawing attention to its Androidify app (and the fact that you've been able to make your own for almost four years now), Google programmed 300 devices (and their Android character) to 'sing' (and flail the limbs around, roughly in time, in the middle of a classy shopping center in upscale Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan. Like a bonafide real chorus, the devices were separated out into parts, though we could also pick out a smattering of beatboxing droids too. If you have entirely not enough pride, you could even take a turn as a conductor, with a gesture sensor conveying your hand movements to your Google singing group. For such overtly public shaming, you were rewarded with a free Android t-shirt. The performances will continue through this Valentine Day weekend, and it will all sound a little something like this:

Up until now, ESPN has had two separate apps on iOS for news and scores, one designed for iPhone (SportsCenter) and another for iPad (ScoreCenter). Well, starting today, that's about to change. The Worldwide Leader in Sports announced that it is, finally, unifying its apps on Apple's platform, mashing them into a single application that'll be known simply as "ESPN." The newly consolidated app doesn't just bring a rebranding, however -- it's also completely redesigned and developed to take advantage of iOS 8, which you'll need to have on your device in order to download it. As such, you can expect the ESPN app to support the bigger, higher-res screens of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, a feature that's been long overdue.

We knew it was coming, but it's finally here. Not to be outdone by Sony, Olympus revealed last year, during Photokina 2014, that it was working on a lens camera of its own. And now we're starting to learn more about it. Meet the Olympus Air, the company's first attempt at this type of remote device. Aside from being able to connect with your iOS or Android smartphone wirelessly, the Olympus Air has a 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor and can take up to 320 shots on a charge. Interestingly enough, Olympus is pegging the Air as an open-platform camera, since the company does plan to allow third-party developers to create applications for it.

In case you haven't noticed, team Engadget has spent a lot of time today covering Windows 10, Microsoft's next-gen operating system. Over the course of the company's three-hour keynote, we heard quite a bit more about its so-called universal apps, which will run on all manner of Windows devices, whether they be desktops, tablets, phones or even 84-inch pen displays. That said, there were a couple tidbits the company left out of its presentation. For one thing, we only just learned for sure that the Lumia Camera app -- the one included in the recent "Denim" update -- will actually be the default camera app on all Windows 10 devices. That means even if you're using a Windows device made by Samsung or HTC, you'll get the same photography experience as on a proper Lumia, at least as far as software and image editing go (actual image quality is a different story).

During the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship, AT&T showed off a working demo of a new version of its Long-Term Evolution network: LTE Broadcast. With this, the wireless carrier is hoping to alleviate the congestion problems consumers face when they are in highly crowded places -- such as professional sports stadiums. AT&T's been working on LTE Broadcast for years, but until now has shared few details about it. In 2013, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that the company was "all about architecting networks to deliver video," pointing out that the technology would be "mature in scale within the three-year time horizon." We're not quite there yet, but what I saw on Monday leaves me hopeful for the future of smooth, buffer-free television over LTE.

Messaging services like WhatsApp have slowly been trickling onto our extremities via Android Wear for what feels like ages now, so is it really any surprise that BlackBerry's getting in on the action now too? At a press breakfast earlier this morning, the company took a few moments to highlight its tentative plan to bring BBM to Google's wearables. Even in its unfinished state, the whole shebang works just the way you'd expect it to: You'll be able to view and accept friend invites right from your wrist, and speak your responses aloud for Google's machine brains to render into text. And the ETA for BBM's touchdown on your watch? BlackBerry's Jeff Gadway says you'll be able to nab it sometime in "early 2015," so you'd better make sure your contacts are in order. Just in case you're itching to see the early concept in action, go ahead a take a peek after the break -- you won't regret it.

It takes a special kind of crazy to show up to the biggest consumer electronics show on Earth, to pay for an exhibition space next to Oculus VR and then advertise your product as an "Oculus killer." That's exactly what 3DHead did with its "GCS3" headset. That phrase is even painted on their booth, as seen above.

Given all that, you're probably pretty interested in seeing the company's headset, right? It's probably super sleek, right? Forgive me, but you absolutely have to head below to see this madness. I assure you, you won't regret it.

The first flagship phone from Saygus in five years isn't very subtle. Its specs read like every gadget geek's wish list: support for up to 256GB of storage, a 21-megapixel rear camera paired with a 13MP front shooter, stereo Harman Kardon front speakers and insanely fast 60Ghz WiFi before it hits other phones. But there's something to admire in the Saygus V2's (technically, "V squared") excess. It's a phone that's meant specifically for hardware geeks, not everyday buyers. And it's those geeks who probably remember the Vphone, the last device from Saygus that was one of the first hyped-up Android phones, but which ultimately ended up as vaporware. The company may be alive, but it still has a lot to prove with the V2.

Yes, really. This is really a $300 game controller. It's extremely modular -- you can use it with a PC, or a tablet (up to seven inches), or a TV outright (via MHL cable). It folds down to a tiny little oval. There's an attachable keyboard. It's bizarre. I cannot stress that enough.

Who created this madness? Mad Catz. Of course it was Mad Catz. Maybe you'd like to know more? I encourage you to visit the gamepad's website, which is also full of madness. Including that $300 price, which is outrageous. But maybe you really like expensive crazy things? Head below into our gallery for some up-close-and-personal shots of it.

Sometimes your Tuesday is going horribly and the only way to fix it is face time with your four-legged best friend. We've likely all been there. Petcube wants to help make those bad days melt away with its WiFi-enabled pet camera. More than simply offering video and two-way audio communication via smartphone app (both Android and iOS are supported), each camera has a built-in laser pointer that you can control remotely by dragging your finger across your mobile's screen. We saw it in action with cats in San Francisco (pictured above), and it was pretty cute watching felines chase around a red dot controlled by one of Petcube's employees standing next to us at CES in Las Vegas. The outfit says you can grant access to your camera, too, so people besides you can, say, exercise your pets if you're a bit too busy. Naturally, they just need to download the app to their device of choice.

While CES isn't usually the kind of show that HTC would make a big deal out of, the company somehow decided to use this opportunity to throw out a new mid-range flagship device: the Desire 826. While it's positioned as a follow-up to the Desire 820 (which is only four months old, by the way), the new model has clearly taken a design cue from the Desire Eye: You get the same hidden BoomSound front-facing stereo speakers (now with Dolby Audio), the same anti-slip soft sides and the same overall look. But rather than using a 13-megapixel front-facing camera, the Desire 826 touts HTC's famed UltraPixel imager on the front, meaning you can take faster and brighter selfies even in poorly lit environments. Great idea, though we wish HTC had come up with this before someone else did it.